Smaller retail products typically found on shelves or hanging from hooks are susceptible to theft in large quantities. These smaller products are quickly and easily swept into bags or coat pockets and can then be carried out of the store by shoplifters. Relatively expensive or high demand items, such as over-the-counter medications, razor blades, batteries, DVD's, and the like may be particularly susceptible to theft in large quantities.
In order to combat theft in large quantities, or “sweeping,” retail stores have attempted to monitor activity within the store through the use of video cameras and/or increased security. However, security systems are a significant investment and require an employee to monitor the systems in search of suspicious activity. Hiring a security guard is also expensive and may not fully combat theft problems, especially in larger stores.
As a result, some retail stores have begun locking expensive and/or high demand items in display cases or placing the items behind the counter. While making products inaccessible to the customer without the assistance of a store employee may reduce the incidents of theft, it has been found that sales decrease significantly when products are no longer accessible to the customer. Additionally, placing products in locked display cases and/or behind the counter requires a store employee to assist customers in retrieving the inaccessible items.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a customer-accessible product dispensing system that helps prevent theft in large quantities without the need for additional security and/or assistance by an employee.
The invention provides such a customer-accessible product dispensing system. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.